Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Breaking Defense has the best write up on Rheinmetall's ADS ....

via Breaking Defense.

German arms maker Rheinmetall is rolling out a new Active Protection System (APS) it says should lay Army safety concerns about such systems to rest. The Army is rushing to install anti-missile defenses on its armored vehicles but remains concerned about whether they might accidentally shred nearby civilians or friendly troops. The Rheinmetall system has been tested and certified to meet uniquely stringent safety standards, the company says.

It shoots down incoming missiles at the last instant, which they argue is (ironically) safer for surrounding troops than an early kill. (We explain below).

So why ain't screaming at the moon calling this the next best thing since sliced bread?

Cause I remain unimpressed.

For these things to work they're gonna have to be cheap enough to put on every vehicle in your inventory. If that can't be accomplished then they need to be so small that you can't identify a vehicle that has these protection systems.

I can imagine an Assault Man would not waste a missile on a tank with active defense. He'd go after another vehicle that doesn't have it. Or if a particular unit is fully equipped then if the commander has even one active brain cell they'll seek to launch on one target, identify how many missiles actually go thru the defenses, adjust and then start shooting the prescribed number till they ran out.

One other thing.

I don't know how they're testing these things. Will they actually perform on a modern battlefield? What happens when you have tanks advancing and the enemy is shooting small arms, raining artillery, sending every LAW rocket they have and finally hitting you with heavy ATGMs?

I know we're playing catch up. I know the Russians and Israelis and Chinese already have these systems in service.

I just want to know more before we invest heavily in first gen tech that will undoubtedly improve over the next few years.